Ukraine’s Ambassador to India Oleksandr Polishchuk. File
| Photo Credit: The Hindu

As the government essays a possible role for India in peace-making in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Ukraine’s Government is keen for New Delhi to sign on to the Swiss Peace Summit document, which would entail reversing India’s previous decision in June to disassociate from it. Speaking to The Hindu, Ukraine’s Ambassador to India Oleksandr Polishchuk said that Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had proposed a retrospective move by India to join the peace process ahead of plans for a second Peace Summit in October or November this year, and that Ukraine had more “ambition” than for India to play “post office” between the leaders . 

Also read: Negotiating for peace: On the ‘Summit on Peace’, in Burgenstock

“We hope that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Ukraine and conversations with President Zelenskyy indicate India’s support for the peace-building effort,” Mr. Polishchuk told The Hindu in Delhi, in his first interview after the visit, where he confirmed that Mr. Zelenskyy “discussed the possibility that India could review its decision at the first peace summit in Switzerland, and associate itself with the Burgenstock joint communique”, retrospectively or for India to formulate its own proposals that support principles like humanitarian access, nuclear safety, etc. 

‘PM Modi can play a larger role’

After the Swiss Peace Summit in June, India had issued a statement disassociating itself from its outcome as it did not involve both Russia and Ukraine at the table. 

“A large democracy like India should not just be a messenger or post office, conveying messages from one country in the conflict to the other— given PM Modi’s ability to speak to all sides, he can play a larger role in guiding the process and even in hosting the peace summit,“ he added.

The Envoy’s comments come as the Modi Government has stepped up its outreach to other countries playing a role in current efforts to end the conflict, after PM Narendra Modi’s visits to Moscow and Kiev in July and August, and upcoming visits to the United States and U.N. in September and Russia in October, where he will meet other world leaders.

In addition, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar is on a six-day visit to Saudi Arabia, Germany and Switzerland (September 8-13) where he will also engage other Gulf country Ministers, as well as heads of U.N. organisations, apart from bilateral meetings.

NSA Doval to visit Russia

National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval will visit Russia this week (September 10-12) for the BRICS NSA meetings where he will meet counterparts from China, Brazil, South Africa, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Ethiopia.

The flurry of diplomatic visits come after Mr. Zelenskyy pitched India as a possible mediator along with other “Global South” countries and Mr. Putin said he valued any efforts by India, China and Brazil on the conflict, and that he was “constantly in touch” with all three.

In May 2024, China and Brazil had presented a six-point peace proposal to end the Russia-Ukraine conflict, and officials have declined to comment on whether India would endorse the proposal or make its own alternative peace proposal. In Kiev on August 23, Mr. Jaishankar had said it was for the “parties concerned to respond” to the China-Brazil proposal, not India.

Mr. Polishchuk said that while one part of the Modi-Zelenskyy talks had focused on peace efforts, they had also discussed bilateral issues at length, and in particular humanitarian projects in which India could support Ukraine during the conflict.

Although the Modi Government has thus far not accepted Ukrainian requests for possibly “dual use” supplies like diggers and construction equipment, as well as telecom towers and hospital infrastructure, Kiev is now hopeful that India will approve MoUs for electricity generators and transformers given the power crisis in Ukraine, as well as de-mining equipment and prosthetics for those who have lost limbs in the war.

In addition, the Ambassador said they would identify “High Impact Community Development Projects” like school and hospital reconstruction, fitted with computers and air-raid shelters, that could be proposed as part of the MoU signed on Humanitarian Grant Assistance with India. 

 “We need to pay more attention to the implementation of the various plans for cooperation that the leaders agreed to” Mr. Polishchuk said, adding that “The ball is now in our court [the Embassy’s] to study which humanitarian projects we could present for India to disburse funds for.”

The Congress on Sunday alleged that the government has mismanaged the economy across all sectors and since it is “too inept” in fixing issues such as unemployment and price rise, it is distorting the data instead.

Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said now that the special session of Parliament is over, it is clear that the Modi government was trying to “distract and divert” the nation from some critical issues – “the Adani scam, the caste census and especially the rising unemployment, growing inequality and the economic distress”.

In a statement, he said no matter how much the Modi government hides the data, the reality is that the vast majority of people are suffering.

He claimed that some of the facts reported last week are being “brushed under the carpet”.

He said RBI’s latest bulletin of September 2023 shows the “complete failure” of the Modi government to execute a recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

“43% of people were in the labour force in February 2020. Over 3.5 years later, the participation rate remains around 40%. As a matter of grave concern, a report from Azim Premji University shows that over 42% of graduates under the age of 25 were unemployed in 2021-22,” Mr. Ramesh said.

In 2022, women were still making only 85% of their earnings before the pandemic, he claimed.

“Remember that India was already facing the highest unemployment rate in 45 years before the onset of the pandemic — a statistic that the Modi government tried hard to hide from the public domain,” he alleged.

The Congress leader highlighted that the prices of essential commodities have been rising sharply, impacting the household budget of ordinary families.

“After the uncontrolled spike in tomato prices, now tur dal prices are up 45% from January 2023, and overall pulses inflation has touched 13.4%. Prices of atta are up 20% since August, besan is up 21%, gur is up 11.5%, sugar is up 5%,” Mr. Ramesh said.

Uncontrolled price rises across the essential household sector shows the inability of the Modi government to manage the economy, he added.

Mr. Ramesh also alleged that the crony capitalism of the Modi government has concentrated all economic benefits to a select few firms, making it next to impossible for MSMEs to compete.

“A report by Marcellus found that 80% of all profits went to just 20 companies in 2022. In contrast, the market share of small business was at its lowest level in India’s history; small business sales were around 7% of the total before 2014 but fell to under 4% in Q1 2023. Seventy-five% of small businesses are losing money, according to a 2023 survey of 100,000 small business owners by Consortium of Indian Associations,” he said in his statement.

Noting that credit to the private sector is the engine of growth, Mr. Ramesh said a decade of stagnant credit is a symptom of a mismanaged economy.

According to World Bank data shown in last week’s RBI bulletin, from 2004 to 2014, domestic credit to the private sector grew consistently and rapidly, he said.

“Credit grew from 36.2% of GDP in 2004 to 51.9% of GDP in 2014. However, since 2014, credit growth has stagnated. In 2021, domestic credit was at just 50.4% — lower than it was in 2014!” Mr. Ramesh said.

It should be a matter of grave concern to the government that household financial liabilities have been growing rapidly, the Congress leader asserted.

The Finance Ministry wants us to believe that people are buying homes and vehicles, but RBI data shows that there is a major spike in gold loans by 23% and personal loans by 29%, over the past year – clear signs of distress, as people go into debt to meet basic expenses, Mr. Ramesh said.

“Further, RBI data shows household savings growth has come down sharply, from 7.2% of GDP in FY22 to just 5.1% in FY23. This is a 47-year low in savings growth rate, and reflective of the overall slowdown in the Indian economy under the Modi Government,” he said.

Mr. Ramesh said that for the first time in a decade, FDI inflows have declined in India.

The RBI bulletin showed that FDI decreased 16% in FY23, he pointed out.

Further, as a percentage of GDP, after more than doubling from 0.8% in 2004 to 1.7% in 2014, FDI has been stagnant — inflows were just 1.5% of GDP in 2022. Foreign investors are increasingly unwilling to put their money in India due to the Modi Government’s crony capitalism, failed economic policies, and stoking of communal tensions,” he alleged.

“From increasing unemployment, rising prices of household essentials, shrinking MSME sales, slow domestic credit growth, increased household financial liabilities and decreased savings, and declining FDI, the Modi government has mismanaged the economy across all sectors,” Mr. Ramesh said.

Ordinary families and small businesses are under intense pressure, but the government is “too inept to fix it and so is busy distorting the data instead”, he claimed.

The Congress has been attacking the government over its handling of the economy and raising concerns over “increasing unemployment and price rise”.